A CHAMPION piper really hit the high notes by belting out a tune perched on a 1000ft cliff.

Rory Grossart clambered on to tiny Lover’s Stone on the Hebridean island of St Kilda to become the first piper to play just inches from a sheer drop into the Atlantic Ocean.

Last month, we told how John Sutton, 24, found romance after re-enacting the ancient tradition of balancing on one leg over the edge of Lover’s Stone.

In ancient times, young St Kildan men performed the dangerous feat to show future brides they could provide for a family by climbing the sheer cliffs to catch birds for food.

Would-be husbands had to balance on their left foot over the precipice and make a fist over their outstretched right foot to prove their agility. Rory, from Glasgow, a member of ScottishPower Pipe Band, said: “I got my son Andrew to take the picture as I climbed out on the rock with the pipes.

“To say I was nervous is an understatement – I certainly wasn’t looking down. I was more concerned with making sure Andrew was kept well back from the edge.

“It wasn’t my best performance – I only managed a few notes – but it was certainly the most extreme.

“My wife Karen didn’t know what I was doing until she saw the photograph later when we’d returned to Harris.

“I probably can’t repeat what she said but it was fair to say she thought I was off my trolley.”

Award-winning Rory (Image: Handout)

Rory, from Glasgow, is one of Scotland’s most respected pipers and travels around the globe with the ScottishPower Pipe Band, runners-up in last year’s world championships.

The incredible photo of Rory’s solo on Lover’s Stone came after we told how lovelorn John, of Harris, joked: “I got a girlfriend – but my mum has still not forgiven me.”